You have ambitions.
You've led an army of more than 2,000 officers for more than ten years.
You have more power sometimes than the president of the United States.
But it isn't enough.
You've never been elected to public office, but you smell an opening.
The guy whose office you covet wasn't even elected.
He's a Democrat, and you're a Republican. Though it's a "nonpartisan" election, most of the voters are Republicans, too.
He's a kid, and you're a cop.
You're also a good card player, some say, and it's time to play your hand.
You're Ruben Ortega, and you're following your instincts.
You need a way out.
You are toying with the idea of transforming yourself from police chief to mayor of Phoenix.
With great fanfare, you've recently conducted a "sting" operation that's netted the indictments of seven state legislators.
You gave a guy $300,000, instructed him to dole out the money to some greedy, cash-starved legislators, and watched their political lives pass before your eyes.
Everyone calls your handiwork "AzScam."
Thanks to your cameras, most voters have seen grainy films of the legislators bagging the cash on the evening news.
And there's more to come. You have more tapes. And files. But the second shoe has yet to drop.
How will it fall?
It gets tricky.
There's a hooker in Seattle who says you've gotten a little too friendly with a Phoenix house of prostitution and allowed folks to use drugs there.
It's the last straw, you say.
All you know is how to be a cop.
You need a bad guy, somebody you can point to who won't let you do your job.
You need a way out.
You need good headlines and a cause.
So you do things differently this time.
First, you run to the press, not your superior, to announce your decision to retire.
You blame this difficult decision on all the bureaucrats in city government who are proposing "guidelines" that would tie your hands in future sting operations.
You hope the kid will slip up and take issue with you. You reckon the boy mayor will support the guidelines, and the people's right to know.
When he does, you've got him.
Then you'll have some reasons to run for mayor--if only to send the kid back to college and protect all those officers who risked their lives filming journeyman crook Joe Stedino offering cash to the dangerous Chuy Higuera.
The kid may be young and goofy but you discover that his survival skills are well-honed.
Mayor Paul Johnson is the kid who calls your bluff and apologizes for any "misunderstanding."
You realize the kid's been hitting the books. He's taken the campaign advice of another great Arizona politician, the late U.S. Senator Henry F. Ashurst, who said in 1920: "You must learn that there are times when a man in public life is compelled to rise above his principles."
Johnson is wise beyond his years.
You're not so dumb, either. So you take credit for ending all talk of accountability in future sting operations--your top men can keep filming without having to submit invoices to the city manager for all the lights, action and cameras.
But you still need a way out.
You still need an evil person who leaves you no choice but to run for office.
You are reading the morning newspaper, admiring your picture on the front page, when suddenly it hits you.
Phoenix City Councilmember Linda Nadolski.
She hurt your feelings.
You'll call another press conference, hold up a marked copy of the morning newspaper, take credit again for AzScam, and blame Linda Nadolski and her "negative comments" for your decision to resign.
That's it. Nadolski. A woman. A liberal. A funny last name.
Perfect.
The nerve. She wants to know if the people are "safe" from Ruben Ortega.
Sure, it was a little schizoid--I'm quitting, I'm staying, I'm leaving.
But look on the bright side. You got three solid days of front-page, full-color media attention. Your "name identification" has never been higher. You showed emotion--indignation, humor, guts. And if the Arizona Republic keeps running those favorable polls and treats you the way it treated Fife Symington earlier this year, it's in the bag.
So maybe you did cut a deal with Johnson not to run against him for mayor. So what? The kid's smart, but not that smart. Deal, what deal?
There're more important issues out there. Like Nadolski. Yeah, Nadolski. You have ambitions.
You are a member of the Phoenix City Council and you care about neighborhoods.
You have more power sometimes than the mayor of Phoenix.
It's plenty of power, at least for another term or two.
You have been elected to the council from your district twice, and you're running again in October.
Two others have announced their intention to challenge you in the race.
In the past, your single most important qualification for office was that you're the mother of five.
You've also been president of the PTA.
You're Linda Nadolski.
You don't pretend to be a cop.
You believe your job requires you to ask questions and get answers.
It's a lot like being a mom.
In this election, you have a new notoriety.
It's not one you sought, but it's a risk you anticipated.
You are Ruben Ortega's evil empire incarnate.
You are a mom with the nerve to ask him how he spends his allowance.
You deny that AzScam had anything to do with the council's consideration of draft guidelines governing undercover police operations.
You say the issue is more fundamental than that.
You say the city needs to develop "lines of authority" between the police department and the council.
That's why the council was looking at the police department, you say.
You have your own reasons for questioning Chief Ortega.
You care about neighborhoods and believe that if the police listen to neighbors discuss crime and its prevention, the crime rate might actually go down.
You ask a lot of questions. Like:
How come we have such a high crime rate in this city?
How come we spend more money each year for more police and the crime rate keeps going up?
How come we can't have "community policing" when it's worked elsewhere? How come you've had to ask that for three years? Ruben Ortega doesn't answer your questions. Never has, never will.
Even the transportation department answers your questions, and you've battled that bureaucracy since before you were elected. If anyone should hold a grudge, it's them.
But they don't. Only Ortega's police department patronizes and then ignores you.
You have constituents and you believe they deserve answers.
Especially when they call and leave messages about "not feeling safe" in their neighborhoods anymore.
They have questions and want answers about the gangs and the graffiti.
Now Ruben Ortega is gone. At least, he's no longer chief of police.
And you still need answers.
You believe the city manager needs to know that there are more people than the generals deciding to go to war in this city.
You even said some of these things publicly.
Now you have an enemy.
Now you get "very ugly threats."
Now you wonder how it's gotten this bad and why there can't be give-and-take without such "ugliness." Some days it's easier being a mom, but you'll keep at this job a while longer.
You look at the accomplishments at the end of your term and you feel good about things.
You got into this business with one oath for the government. You said:
Don't lie to me.
You ask a lot of questions.
You have ambitions.
You've led the tenth largest city in America through difficult economic times, though you are only 31 years old.
You have more power sometimes than the chief of police.
But it isn't enough.
You were never elected mayor of Phoenix, but you smell an opening.
You're Paul Johnson.
The guy who's angling for your job is 51, a lawman, a gambler, a real hothead.
You've outfoxed him so far.
You've attended his retirement party and smiled politely as the Chief took his parting shots at your colleague Linda Nadolski.
You've gone on record as saying the draft guidelines would destroy the ability of the police department to conduct undercover operations. Good thinking--the Republic's editorial page agrees.
You've studied well. You've done the one brave thing officeholders do at times like these.
You've offered to form a committee.
You have not yet defined its mission or said what exactly it will do.
You do say that it will explore the troubled relationship between the council and the police department.
Its members have not yet been selected.
Your staff says that members probably will not be selected until late August or September. You know Ortega must file his petition for any mayoral bid by August 2.
If Ortega runs, will you appoint "liberals" to the committee and create opposition to Ortega's off-the-shelf paramilitary operations?
If Ortega doesn't run, will you appoint "conservatives" to the committee and create an ever-widening umbrella of support for you and your embrace of Ortega's views on law enforcement?
Will you compel the department to start answering questions?
Will you mandate accountability?
From all your lessons, do you remember the words of Andrew Jackson?
He said: "One man with courage makes a majority."
So does one woman.
The kid may be young and goofy but you discover that his survival skills are well-honed.
You are reading the morning newspaper, admiring your picture on the front page, when suddenly it hits you.
must use the following pull quote--BODNEY
You are Ruben Ortega's evil empire incarnate. You are a mom with the nerve to ask him how he spends his allowance.
You've done the one brave thing officeholders do at times like these. You've offered to form a committee.
